• OPINION

  An unlikely muse to art of endurance

  News, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 31/03/2016

  » So what's the latest? Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said the draft charter by the Meechai Ruchupan-led Constitution Drafting Committee -- yes, the one with a wholly-appointed Senate and fixed senator posts for armed forces and police chiefs -- is up for the referendum and, I quote, "No one will dare to touch it."

• OPINION

  The art of activism

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 20/02/2017

  » The Thai arts scene has become more politically engaging in the past couple of years. The 2014 coup, of course, has been the most significant transition point in this respect. Before, it was very much about making sense of the colour-coded divide, trying to get into the mentality behind such ideological conflict. In the post-coup era, however, it can be said that the ideas and interests have become somewhat more unified. Artists have become increasingly aware of and responded more to the authoritarian power and the climate of fear and rights restriction.

• LIFE

  Remaking the scene

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 21/12/2016

  » It has been a busy year for the Thai art scene, with well-known artists taking turns treating Bangkok viewers to their latest works, new galleries welcomed and old ones closing down, and politics remaining deeply embedded in artistic expression.

• LIFE

  Art as a political act

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 18/03/2016

  » It was with a feeling of nausea and disgust that Chiang Mai-based artist Mit Jai Inn spent one month working on his new series of abstract paintings, now on display and part of the exhibition "Wett" at Gallery Ver at N22 in Bangkok. Mit's series is entitled "Junta Monochrome" -- obviously not for the works themselves -- for the art space has exploded with every colour imaginable; rather the title conveys the artist's contempt for the reality outside: a junta-ruled country where things are either black or white, where if you're not a khon dee (good person), the artist says, you are inevitably the bad guy.

• OPINION

  Ignorance is shameful, dangerous bliss

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 05/05/2015

  » Not having followed the news lately, I feel considerably less angry. Having only heard from afar what the junta is up to and what the latest claptrap in the name of “goodness” is from glimpses of other people’s Facebook posts and news headlines, I am enjoying a phase of relatively happy apathy.

• THAILAND

  Trainwreck from top to bottom

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 03/03/2015

  » Perhaps what one remembers best about a third-class train ride in Thailand is the shower you take afterwards — the lumps of dust coming out of your nose, the grimy water running off your body and how washing your hair three times isn't enough to take the odour of metal away.

• LIFE

  Making connections, not cash

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 21/01/2015

  » Artist Pisitakun Kuantalaeng, 28, was once a Yellow Shirt. In less than a decade, Pisitakun went from a fervent supporter of anti-Thaksin politics and airport seizures to an artist who took to the streets after the junta seized power last May.

• OPINION

  Sooner or later, it's game over

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 20/02/2015

  » Last week I was invited to join a panel on the topic "Why Criticism?", at Speedy Grandma, a small gallery in Charoen Krung. Along with a university literature lecturer and a film critic, I was invited as an arts and theatre critic. Before agreeing to participate, I insisted to the organisers that I'm not a critic, and it's unlikely that I will consider myself one anytime soon.

• OPINION

  Eccentric relief from bitter reality

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 04/11/2014

  » Like any good fantasy book and film, or post-evening news soap opera, theatre is another means of escape from depressing reality. And our present reality is indeed depressing. How many months have we now been under our dear leader's monopolised rule? Sure, what has happened in these past couple of months has given a generous amount of material to journalists. But what's the point of writing about the junta again? It will only become my fifth Thinkbox that yet again fails to reach his revered eyes and ears.

• OPINION

  A love supreme

  Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 28/08/2014

  » Dear Army Chief/Junta Leader/Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, I love you. I’m not sure why, how or when. I just know for a fact that I do.

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